If ever a line could sum up how people in Northern Ireland coped with living in fear during 30 years of conflict, it is the title of Seamus Heany's poem, Whatever You Say, Say Nothing. The last thing people wanted was to be seen as victims, and the last thing they thought of, even in the face of the most appalling atrocities, was of talking about their problems with complete strangers. So it makes it all the more amazing that, as peace finally begins to put down roots, people across Northern Ireland are turning to therapy in their thousands.

Since 1998, when the Good Friday Agreement first offered the tantalising possibility of a better life for all, much has improved, and for most people everyday life no longer involves waiting for the next tragedy to unfold. But with the eighth anniversary of the agreement approaching, and yet another year filling the space between the "bad old days" and the future, thoughts are increasingly turning towards the reality of life in a "post-conflict" society - specifically, the lingering psychological and social fallout of decades of trauma.

One of the most visible manifestations of this has been the sprouting of voluntary and community-based therapy and counselling centres across Northern Ireland. A parliamentary question revealed that, as of March last year, there were around 150 such "victims'" groups in existence (not counting ones with multiple branches). Not long ago, there was a mere handful.

Variety of support

Official records show that victims' groups received £32.3m in funding between April 1998 to March 2005 from various sources, including the British government and the European Union Programme for Peace and Reconciliation. The groups differ in scale and offer a wide variety of support and individual therapies - everything from musical therapy to simple befriending.

The authorities in Northern Ireland have also been jumping on the bandwagon. In 1998, after pressure from local politicians and community groups, the Northern Ireland Office launched a number of initiatives aimed in the first instance at acknowledging the trauma experienced by victims, and then providing programmes to address their needs. Cash was set aside for research, and funding was made available to support counselling services. The plight of victims was put on the map in April 1998 when the first official report, We Will Remember Them, acknowledging the extent of the harm inflicted, was published by Sir Kenneth Bloomfield at the request of the then Northern Ireland secretary, Mo Mowlam.

Just months after the Good Friday Agreement, a victims minister was appointed and four trauma advisory panels - one for each of the regional health authorities - were established. Two Department of Health trauma centres were also opened.

Not everyone, however, is happy about the rise of therapy. Chris Gilligan, an academic at the University of Ulster who has been researching whether trauma counselling works, says he is worried that it is in danger of being being seen as a panacea for solving the problems of a whole society. He says: "Since the ceasefires, there have been more referrals for trauma therapy ... and there has been a proliferation of different [therapy] groups."

Northern Ireland, Gilligan argues, needs to critically assess whether therapy can possibly do what is expected of it. He accepts that community groups have been meeting local needs, but argues that such groups often generate need. "There is an assumption in the discussion of the provision of counselling that the best kind of life is one where people feel that they are happy and everything is nice," he says. "But where is life like that?"

Mark Thomson, of the Falls Road-based victims group, Relatives for Justice (RFJ), is also sceptical. "We are acutely aware that there is a therapy trend developing," he says. "You have all sorts of people parachuting in [to offer counselling]. There is almost the creation of a therapy industry."

Thomson has concerns about counselling being seen as a "cure-all" and cautions that, left in the wrong hands, it can be dangerous. He is not suggesting, he says, that counselling cannot help some people some of the time - for example, RFJ offers a variety of types of counselling and is accredited by the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists. But he argues that it risks becoming a distraction from tackling the "politically tough" issues of truth and justice.

According to David Bolton, director of the research and counselling organisation, the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation (NICTT), the issue of therapy needs to be put in context. He believes that with the Troubles still very much the recent past, Northern Ireland is only now beginning to grapple with the psychological repercussions of 30 years of violent upheaval.

Bolton says the NICTT, which was set up in the wake of the 1998 Omagh bombing (the single biggest atrocity of the Troubles which saw 29 people and two unborn babies die and left more than 400 injured), will make it its business to research why people are seeking counselling and, crucially, try to assess what works.

"During the Troubles, it was hard for people to talk in a meaningful way and there was an inability [by statutory bodies] to get to grips with this," Bolton says. He believes that people may be turning to counselling because, as the everyday menace of the violence has subsided, old wounds are opening as people are free to reflect on what happened. "We have people coming here [for counselling] 30 years after a traumatic event," Bolton says. "[In the past] there was probably more of a sense of 'we're all in this together'."

At the New Life Counselling Centre in the heart of the Ardoyne in North Belfast - one of the areas most effected by the Troubles - the centre's director, Amanda Patterson, says groups like theirs evolved to fill gaps left by statutory mental health provision. New Life offers a range of therapies, as well as less formal befriending. Patterson says communities such as the Ardoyne, where the population is deeply suspicious of the authorities, want local support. "We responded to local needs, and local people seem to benefit."

Up the road at Survivors of Trauma, Elsie Ward (not her real name) sits in a counselling room clutching a mug of tea tightly with both hands. She is a passionate advocate of the work done by local groups. Ward knows about living with the consequences of trauma. In 1975, her 17-year-old brother was blown up in an explosion in Belfast city centre. In 1992, her younger sister was shot dead in crossfire. Then, in the mid-1990s, another brother was murdered and a nephew was shot in the head in front of two young girls.

Like hundreds of thousands of others, Ward, a mother of four from the deprived Catholic enclave of the Ardoyne, says she ploughed through the pain of the Troubles and did her best to cope. "You didn't think about it then. You just got on with it." But Ward says finally being able to talk about her experiences is helping her.

However, Anne Kelly, director of the Belfast Cognitive Therapy Centre, warns that counselling must be approached with caution. Kelly says the issue is not about whether Northern Ireland is getting carried away on the crest of a counselling wave, but whether victims have access to the right kinds of treatment when they need it. She wants to see improved training for people in therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), the treatment with the best international track record for treating trauma-related problems. Northern Ireland currently has only 35 qualified CBT practitioners. "There are [centres] out there doing their best," Kelly says, "but there are people telling me that [some types of counselling] have actually made them worse." Provision rethink

Bolton agrees that a rethink of provision is needed. "Services need a clear focus," he says. "The problem is that [agencies] are not all singing from the same hymn sheet."

The coming year could be critical for trauma counselling. An interim victims and survivors commissioner, Bertha MacDougal, will conduct a strategic review of the type and quality of support services available. Her report, which will include recommendations on how to improve, monitor and evaluate counselling services, is expected at the end of the year.

MacDougal does not want to pre-empt her conclusions, but she does hint at the direction policy might go in - and it is looking as if counselling could become more, not less, prevalent. "I think we have to recognise that there are very many people who have been severely traumatised and it wasn't recognised at the time and it must be addressed now," she says. "This is one area in which we have to look at a coordinated approach right across all services - voluntary and statutory."

It is clear that many ordinary people are willing to give counselling of any kind a go. Ward is coping as best she can. "There's so much for people to handle," she says. "People need support. And as for me? I am still only living day to day."